Persistent memory image capture

A system comprising:

• a persistent memory (PMEM) configured for use as volatile-mode memory to enable an application to store and access in-memory data during execution of a process;
• and
• a memory controller configured to:
• generate metadata indicative of a particular state of the PMEM at a particular time during execution of the process;
• store the metadata in a non-volatile storage;
• and
• safekeep, in the PMEM, a particular state of the in-memory data as it exists at the particular state of the PMEM;
• generate a copy of the particular state of the in-memory data;
• store the copy of the particular state of the in-memory data in the PMEM;
• and
• enable the application to use the copy of the particular state of the in-memory data in the PMEM to initiate execution of a second instance of the process, wherein the process and the second instance of the process execute in parallel.

A method for storing and managing time-evolved memory images, the method comprising:

• enabling an application to use memory to execute a process;
• capturing a plurality of memory images at various times during execution of the process, wherein a particular memory image of the plurality of memory images is indicative of a state of the memory at a current time;
• and
• storing metadata associated with the plurality of memory images using a linked index scheme, wherein metadata associated with the particular memory image includes:
• a chunk index data structure indicative of chunks that are owned by the particular memory image, wherein the chunks that are owned by the particular memory image include one or more chunks, of a plurality of chunks, that differ from a parent of the particular memory image;
• wherein each of the plurality of chunks represents a portion of the memory mapped to an address space associated with the application;
• wherein the parent of the particular memory image is one of the plurality of memory images captured earlier than the particular time;
• detecting a change in memory mappings associated with the process during execution of the process;
• and
• updating the chunk index data structure based on the change in the memory mappings.